Welcome to my personal reflections on life, love and the world around me. Be prepared for a variety of topics; crafts and recipes, self-improvement initiatives, quirks and quotes, and other tidbits of interest that come into my view. The journey begins...walk with me.

Saturday, October 1, 2011

A Formula For Life: E + R = O

Believe it or not, this formula can change the course of your life...

EVENT + RESPONSE = OUTCOME

While we can only control the events in our life to a certain extent, we can ALWAYS control our respone to them which will in turn affect the outcome. Let's look at a simple example.

Jack & Charlie are driving to work along the same highway when they encounter a traffic stoppage. Neither one can see what happened, the obstruction is too far ahead. They are literally parked on the highway with nowhere to go and no way to get off.

Jack shrugs his shoulders, puts the car in park and turns up the radio. He's tapping his fingers on the steering wheel, singing along to the tunes and dancing in his seat. He's enjoying the music and using the time to chill out a bit.

Charlie is tapping on his steering wheel too but for a very different reason. He's frustrated by the delay, getting more angry & agitated by the minute. He even starts hollering at whatever idiot ahead is causing the hold up! His blood pressure is steadily rising.

They finally get moving again, off the highway and arrive at work. Suprisingly, they are only ten minutes later than usual. Jack comes in calm & non-chalant about the incident but Charlie walks in stressed out & fuming.

Which one of these guys do you think is going to have a better day? Even if they work at the same place and experience the same set of circumstances, they are likely to perceive them in a totally different way if their earlier reactions are typical for each of them.

This same logic can be applied to all the events in your life - good or bad, happy or sad. By controlling the way you respond to them, you can alter the outcome.

Will you select the response that will bring you happiness or the response that brings you misery? I know what I prefer to do. How about you?